In Brooklyn Mentoring Program, Arts Volunteers Get Tattoos Designed by Teens

In Unorthodox Mentoring Program, Adults Volunteered to Get Inked

By

Andrew LaVallee

April 15, 2014 11:44 p.m. ET

BROOKLYN, N.Y.—Over lunch at Carmine's II Pizzeria Ristorante in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood, Stella Hirsch, a 38-year-old attorney, got to know Devin Lopez, a 16-year-old high-school sophomore. Hours later, his name was tattooed on her right ankle.

Days earlier, she was one of more than 250 people who responded to an Instagram post offering "Free Tattoos" along with several caveats ("They won't look very good. You won't get to choose the design. It will immediately make you a better person"),...